A new satirical travel ad from Iceland is mocking Facebook’s recent name change to Meta and its VR-fueled metaverse dreams.
“Introducing the Icelandverse” is a new campaign from Inspired by Iceland that parodies Mark Zuckerberg’s recent and stilted video presentation re-introducing Facebook as Meta Platforms, Inc. (or “Meta”). In Zuck’s mind, we’ll all be interacting in a virtual three-dimensional world through avatars.
Forgetting the good and/or dystopian aspects of that future digital space for a moment, Iceland just wants to take a gentle jab at the Facebook … sorry, Meta founder. And promote its own country.
“What do we call this no-so-chapter in human connectivity?” says our pale, Zuck-like narrator. “Icelandverse. Enhanced, actual reality. Without silly-looking headsets.” The guide goes on to discuss how “everything has been real for millions of years” (while hilariously trying and failing to open a door), all while speaking in a beautiful studio space with Iceland’s gorgeous landscape as his background.
Iceland would really like non-residents to visit its very real landscape, as tourism makes up 9% of the country’s GDP. Current COVID-related travel guidelines to the European country, as of Sept. 13, note that all visitors must “present a certificate of full vaccination, or a certificate of previous infection, at the border. If a certificate is not valid the individual needs to undergo 2 tests and quarantine for 5 days in between.”
Meta, meanwhile, is going all in on VR headsets not just for fun, but also business, as well as augmented reality (AR) glasses called Project Cambria. For reference, here’s Zuckerberg’s recent metaverse presentation, below.
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